Research: Data Center Decision Time

Kurt Marko05/31/13

Data Center Decision Time

In a digital economy, profitability results from smart use of big data and new mobile and Web-based ­platforms. Deliver more efficient business processes and better customer engagement, and you win. The ­question is, Does managing your own data center help or hinder? We’ll explore while analyzing results of our­ ­InformationWeek 2013 State of the Data Center Survey of 216 business technology professionals involved with management or decision-making at organizations with data centers 1,000 sq. ft. or larger.

The corporate-owned glass house is alive and well, as our survey shows just 4% aggressively moving ­applications to the public cloud. But there is change afoot:

> Provide recommendations on dealing with growth, changing infrastructure technology and a dynamic mix of applications.

> Discuss the future of data center transformation.

Respondent breakdown: 47% have 5,000 or more employees; 34% are over 10,000. Twenty-seven percent maintain data centers of 10,000 square feet or more; for 15%, it’s 25,000 or more. Government, education, healthcare and manufacturing are well represented, and 49% are IT director/manager or IT executive ­management (C-level/VP) level.

Survey Name InformationWeek 2013 State of the Data Center Survey

Survey Date April 2013

Region North America

Number of Respondents 216

Purpose To comprehensively assess the current state of data centers; understand data center resource constraints; and review efforts to monitor, manage and measure IT and data center systems.

Methodology InformationWeek surveyed business technology decision-makers at North American companies with data centers of 1,000 square feet or larger. The survey was ­conducted online, and respondents were recruited via an email invitation containing an embedded link to the survey. The email invitation was sent to qualified InformationWeek subscribers. (R6900613)